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Tim Geithner's 'Stress Test' sneak peek

His primary complaint is that it was difficult to get good policies implemented with Republicans blocking anything that President Barack Obama tried to accomplish, while liberals complained that their unrealistic expectations were not being met.

“It was deeply discouraging to watch so many Republicans refuse to back President Bush on TARP or President Obama on anything when the fate of the entire economy was at stake, to hear them blame us for the deficits they created, to see how comfortable they were dragging the United States to the brink of default,” he writes in his new book, “Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises,” which details Gethner’s role in the response to the financial crisis and during the Obama administration. “And I was often frustrated with the populist left, which never seemed to recognize the very real constraints the President was facing or the progressive legacy he was compiling.”

With some distance from his time in office — he stepped down as Treasury secretary in January 2013 — Geithner concludes that the system actually worked better than most people think: the financial crisis ended without bringing on the next Great Depression and the economy recovered more quickly than expected thanks to the president’s stimulus bill. He also praises many of the people he worked with during both the financial meltdown and in the Obama administration, including Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulson and Larry Summers.

Still, Geithner’s time in Washington and as president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank before that has clearly left a wound. He portrays the criticism he received for his service in government and the impact that had on his family in almost tragic terms.

“I have plenty of regrets about my time in public service, starting with all the pain I caused my family, through my absences as well as my public notoriety,” he writes. The book will officially be released Monday and POLITICO purchased a copy over the weekend.

Geithner’s message throughout the book is that while the government’s response to the financial crisis wasn’t perfect, it was the best and most reasonable option. Saving Wall Street saved Main Street, and while rescuing banks may have been distasteful, it was better than a repeat of the Great Depression.

The argument isn’t new and rather than sway his critics, the book will likely only further fuel their animosity toward a man they view as too captured by the titans of finance.

Geithner makes clear he doesn’t care much for his critics, whom he consistently portrays as either political hacks (mostly Republicans) or woefully unrealistic populist scolds (mostly on the left) with “unicorn” type theories for what should have been done.

He says the book is his attempt to make the case for why the actions he supported were necessary.

“There are lessons for the world in our mistakes as well as our successes,” he writes. “My hope is that they won’t have to be rediscovered in the fires of the next crisis.”

Some of the book’s revelations — including colorful advice Geithner once received from Bill Clinton, disagreements he had with Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke over Lehman Brothers and his interactions with former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel — came to light earlier this week in a New York Times Magazine article.

What follows are other highlights and interesting tidbits from the “Stress Test.”

Elizabeth Warren’s “unjustified” criticisms

Geithner describes having a “complicated” relationship with Warren, the architect of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and chair of a panel that oversaw the 2008 bank bailout law — the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Her TARP hearings seemed intended to be “made-for-YouTube inquisitions than serious inquiries.” Her criticism of the bailout, “if well intentioned, were mostly unjustified.” What’s more, Geithner says, while Warren went after the administration’s decisions, integrity and competence, she was less successful in “identifying feasible alternatives.”

But Geithner also praises Warren for having “sophisticated ideas” on the matter of consumer protection. Warren, who recently released her own memoir called “A Fighting Chance,” wrote that though she and Geithner didn’t see eye-to-eye on many issues, she appreciated the former Treasury secretary having her back when she started the job of building the consumer agency.

Geithner also offers his take the debate over whether Warren should be nominated to lead CFPB. He writes that Senate leaders told the administration she had no chance of being confirmed and also says that some moderate Democratic senators — though he doesn’t name names — didn’t want her nominated. Geithner says he was an early proponent of having her lead the effort to set up the agency in the year after the 2010 Dodd-Frank law was enacted.

Geithner: Romney adviser privately endorsed tax hike

GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney vowed that he would not raise taxes. But as Geithner recalls, Romney’s top economic adviser had something else in mind.

At an Economic Club of New York club dinner in early 2012, Romney’s top economic adviser Glenn Hubbard complained to Romney about the administration not endorsing the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction plan.